Our generosity toward the 2020 Special Session Annual Conference offering will benefit three recipient areas of ministry:
The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR);
DaySpring a Ministry of Spring Heights Camp and Retreat Center
DaySpring is a mobile camp ministry that creates opportunities for churches to discover youth in their communities, for local volunteers to serve as leaders and takes camp to under-served populations who otherwise may not get to experience camp. DaySpring is hosted by a local church that provides volunteers and space for the program. Spring Heights Camp and Retreat Center brings trained staff, Bible Study curriculum, games, crafts, and songs to communities throughout the conference. For more information about Spring Heights Camp and Retreat Center, please visit www.springheights.org
and Student Financial Support for Theological Education in the WV Conference.
During the 2019-20 year, the West Virginia Conference helped to support 74 students continuing their theological education—52 licensed pastors learning through their Course of Study programs and 22 students enrolled in seminaries. This offering will provide support for students who need support beyond our current scholarship systems in order to continue to pursue their theological education.
Your giving is encouraged to be made online through the Conference’s online giving site.
All other giving for the special session of Annual Conference offering should be made through your local church by designating the donation to “2020 Special Session Annual Conference Offering.” Your local church will then remit all donations through its regular process to the Conference Treasurer’s Office to be distributed to the offering recipients.
Both giving options will be available until the end of August.
Church treasures should remit all amounts received for the 2020 Special Session of Annual Conference offering to the Conference Treasurer’s Office along with their church remittance form indicating the amount go to fund #945 Annual Conference Special Session Offerings.
The West Virginia Annual Conference celebrates the vibrant and varied ministries across the West Virginia Conference!
Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball and Rev. Joe Kenaston, the Dean of the Cabinet, are our hosts for the evening.
Watch the 1:00 pm Legislative Session. Due to Covid-19 we held a repeating legislative session at 3:00 pm.
Recorded live at West Virginia Wesleyan College, August 1, 2020.
Watch the 3:00 pm Legislative session.
Recorded live at West Virginia Wesleyan College, August 1, 2020.
2020 Clergy Retirement Videos
Follow this link to watch the clergy retirement video
as well as some individual clergy retirement memories.
2020 Memorial Video
We remember the ministry and witness of the clergy and clergy spouses who have joined the great cloud of witnesses this year.
Join the laity of the West Virginia Annual Conference for their 2020 Laity Session, led by Conference Lay Leader Rich Shaffer, with a devotion by Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball.
An update for the Special Session of the West Virginia Annual Conference
The Special Session of the West Virginia Annual Conference 2020 Session will be Saturday August 1. Members of the Annual Conference will gather at multiple, assigned locations within the Annual Conference area. Sites will be located in each district and social distancing will be practiced.
Because of the restricted numbers recommended for gatherings only members can receive an assigned location. All others have the opportunity to view the Special Session of the West Virginia Annual Conference session by watching the livestream video.
FAQ's: Frequently Asked Questions
The Special Session of the 2020 West Virginia Annual Conference will be held on Saturday, August 1. The 2020 session will meet as a specially called Annual Conference, the specified purpose of which will be to act only on those items that appear in the agenda.
All sites will be able to see and hear presentations and the presiding table. However, the ability to discuss or debate across the various locations will be limited. We will be able to address very few questions.
We opened an email address to receive questions ahead of the session. Some of those questions are being directed to their respective committees for consideration in 2021. Other frequently asked questions are answered below (see the end of this statement for a downloadable pdf or word document).
August 1 Updates:
To remain faithful to the recommendations from local government and our trusted healthcare professionals, there has been a change to the way in-person gatherings will be proctored. To lower the number of people at each site and to limit the amount of time people are gathered indoors, the 2020 session will now take place in shifts at each of the assigned locations.
How do I know which shift I’m assigned? For those who choose to livestream the session there will be no change. The livestream will be open to all who want to participate this way. To view the livestream visit wvumc.org/2020ac/.
For those who reserved a seat to attend the 2020 session in-person you will now attend a singular one-hour shift. There will be a shift which meets at 1:00pm and another shift which meets at 3:00pm at each location. Your site assignment has not changed. You will receive notice if you have been assigned to the 3:00pm shift.
If you requested a reservation for on-site meeting space and based on this updated information have changed your mind in the interest of safety for yourself or others, please let us know today or as soon as possible by responding to: WVAC2020@wvumc.org or by calling 304-344-8331, ext. 45.
Advance work is needed to prepare each site for safe distancing measures, so accurate reservation numbers are important for our planning. We will continue to monitor the most current guidelines from our state and local health departments and plan accordingly.
Has the agenda changed? This is a specially called Annual Conference session. Only those items in the agenda can be brought to the floor. The agenda items have been put in a new order, but no new items will come forward. The actions items presented will be the same at 1:00pm and 3:00pm.
The session will also convene at 5:00PM on August 1 by livestream for all participants to celebrate the mission and ministry of the West Virginia Annual Conference. The items which do not require a vote which appear in the agenda will be accomplished at this time.
On Sunday, August 2 all who wish to participate in the Sunday morning service must do so through the livestream. In order to faithfully, thoughtfully, and safely celebrate baptism and ordination the Sunday morning service will be invitation only, meaning only those who are involved in the service will be present in-person. The 2020 session will adjourn after the Sunday morning service.
Can I come to both sessions? You will only be able to attend one session in-person. You are welcome to participate in the session you do not attend by joining the livestream.
Do I need new credentials? No, the site assignment and credentials included in the mailing (sent 7/15) are still valid. You will be contacted if you are expected to appear at 3:00pm instead of 1:00pm as the mailing suggests. Remember to bring your roll call card and name tag with you; you will only be admitted into the session if you can present your credentials and roll call card. There will not be staff at each site who can verify or print new credentials.
Follow this link for additional FAQ's based on your questions.
Download a PDF (updated 7.16.2020)
Download a Microsoft Word Doc (updated 7.16.2020)
Dear Members of the West Virginia Conference,
In the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic, I hope that you are well and are taking all the precautions you can to stay well and to keep others safe and healthy. To that end, I want to encourage you to examine the very limited agenda and action items for the specially called session of the Annual Conference on the afternoon of August 1, 2020. I have called this as a special session and specified the purpose of our special session to receive and take action on only those items that appear in the limited workbook agenda. We will not take up any other business. All other business will be postponed to our Annual Conference gathering in 2021 when we hope to be able to gather safely again in one geographical location.
The items in the limited agenda include several actions that must be taken annually. All agenda items attempt to maintain and honor decisions made and voted on by the entire body of the Conference in 2019. Because this special session will be held in a variety of locations that will be connected virtually, the ability to have discussions or debate across the various locations will not be possible, and asking questions of the presiding table will be very limited. There will not be any voting by Livestream, only at the physical gathering locations. However, we will be happy to receive any affirmations, concerns, or questions from those who plan to join through the Livestream.
Whether you plan to participate on-site or by Livestream, I invite you to review the reports with action items, which are separated from the other workbook reports, and submit any questions you may have through this form. We will seek to address questions in advance of the August 1st session through a “Frequently Asked Questions” document, to be posted soon on our website at wvumc.org/2020AC. We will also keep any comments, questions, affirmations or concerns to be shared with the appropriate committees for their work as they prepare for the 2021 Annual Conference session, and will include this feedback in a summary report of this 2020 Annual Conference session.
I am deeply concerned for the safety of all our conference members. Please, please examine the limited agenda of this session and the action items and prayerfully and carefully determine whether or not you will be present at physical meeting location or whether you will join by Livestream from home. If you do not feel comfortable, if you are not feeling well, if you are a person who is in a vulnerable category, if you have a job that requires you to be out constantly among people, I encourage you, for your health and safety and the health and safety of others, to join by Livestream and to feel good about so doing. We will revisit most, if not all, of the committee reports and actions on the limited special session agenda in 2021.
If you requested a reservation for on-site meeting space and based on this updated information have changed your mind in the interest of safety for yourself or others, please let us know today or as soon as possible by responding to: WVAC2020@wvumc.org or by calling 304-344-8331, ext. 45. Advance work is needed to prepare each site for safe distancing measures, so accurate reservation numbers are important for our planning. We will continue to monitor the most current guidelines from our state and local health departments and plan accordingly.
May we be open to the presence of God’s Spirit, who seeks and prays for us to develop and generate ways of living with God and one another that brings us closer to the image of Christ both individually and communally.
Peace,
Sandra Steiner Ball
Resident Bishop, West Virginia Conference
NEXT STEPS:
- If you registered to attend on-site and have changed your mind, click here now.
- Review the limited Agenda and Action Items, click here.
- If you have questions or want to offer comments, concerns, or affirmations, click here.